Will Melancon Return Dirty Oil Money?

Congressman Charles Melancon, running for U.S. Senate in Louisiana this year, is eager to speak strongly about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that started when the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig exploded and sank beneath the waves. “Send BP CEO Tony Hayward a pink slip” Melancon urges.

In the past, though, Melancon has been all too eager to do big favors for BP and other crude oil giants. Melancon has voted to expand offshore drilling in spite of rampant corruption and a lack of safe offshore drilling technology. Melancon has also done the bidding of big oil corporations in opposing sensible environmental laws that would get in the way of oil companies’ effort to squeeze every last ounce of profit out of the Gulf of Mexico, no matter the risk to coastal communities. Melancon has failed to support strong legislation to hold BP accountable and to prevent future oil spills from offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Melancon has taken tons of money from the dirty oil industry. Recently, he even accepted one thousand dollars from a lobbyist working for the American Petroleum Institute who has campaigned against clean water regulations. Now, that money looks as dirty as the Gulf of Mexico.

Will Charlie Melancon return this oil industry money? If not, there’s no reason to trust that his ranting about the oil spill amounts to anything more than a convenient pose that he’ll shake off as soon as he wins the election.